WASHINGTON — If it’s Monday ... The suspect in the Monterey Park, Calif., deadly shooting is dead after self-inflicted gunshot. ... President Biden to name Jeff Zients as new chief of staff, replacing Ron Klain, who will exit after State of the Union address. ... Democrat Ruben Gallego launches Arizona Senate bid. ... And Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., weighs 2024 options.
But first: President Biden last week said he had “no regrets” about his handling of those classified documents found at his residence and former office.
Which now includes another six documents found at Biden’s Delaware home on Friday after a complete and consensual Justice Department search.
“There’s no there there,” Biden added last week.
Yet that’s not how some fellow Democrats see it.
“Oh, I think he should have a lot of regrets,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said of Biden on “Meet the Press” yesterday. “I mean, if I hold people accountable, and I use — whether my chief of staff or, you know, my staff, who, that were doing this, that I’m looking at, then I’m going to hold someone accountable. But basically, the buck stops with me.”
Manchin continued, “Just say, ‘I made a mistake.’”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 in Democratic Senate leadership, also criticized Biden.
“To think that any of [these documents] ended up in boxes in storage one place or the other is just unacceptable,” he said on CNN.
Durbin added, “Let’s be honest about it. When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it, because it’s not supposed to happen. Whether it was the fault of a staffer or attorney, it makes no difference. The elected official bears ultimate responsibility.”
Both Manchin and Durbin pointed out how Biden’s case differs from the classified documents found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence — Biden immediately handed over his documents when discovered, and he voluntarily allowed the FBI to search his home.
But as GOP strategist Brendan Buck put it on “Meet the Press” yesterday, Donald Trump shouldn’t be the standard here.
“You can’t set the standard by how Donald Trump handled things,” Buck said.
Headline of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … 6
That’s the number of new items that the Justice Department took from its Friday search of President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home, including classified documents, according to a statement by the president’s personal attorney released over the weekend.
“DOJ took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as Vice President,” Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, said.
Both a White House official and a source familiar with the matter told NBC News the search was prompted by the White House, not the Justice Department, and the White House says the Justice Department didn’t obtain a search warrant.
While the details aren’t fully clear, the classified information discovered during the 13-hour search is part of the fourth batch of classified documents found in Biden’s possession.
Read more about the search on NBCNews.com.
Other numbers to know:
12: That’s how many people were injured during a shooting at a nightclub in Baton Rouge, La. early Sunday.
3: The number of active-duty Marines charged last week with crimes related to participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S Capitol.
32.4%: The two-week increase in average daily Covid deaths in America, up to 592 on Friday, per an NBC News analysis.
21.8%: The two-week decrease in average daily Covid hospitalizations in America, down to 37,396, per NBC.
251,487: The number of migrants that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol stopped along the Mexican border in Dec. 2022, up 40% from the same month in 2021.
$690,000: The amount that a cyber criminal stole from Kansas GOP Sen. Jerry Moran’s campaign, according to a new filing with the FEC.
7: The number of people arrested in Atlanta on Saturday night amid protests following the death of an environmental activist last week. The AP reports that police say an officer killed the activist after he shot an officer, but activists are contesting that claim.
Eyes on 2024: Manchin weighs his options
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is keeping almost all of his options open for 2024, including a potential run for the White House.
“Everything’s on the table,” Manchin said during an appearance on “Meet the Press” Sunday, where he did not rule out a presidential run.
“The only thing I can tell you is what I will do is whatever I can when I make my decision, what I think is the best that I can [to] support and represent the people of West Virginia — but also be true to this country and the Constitution of this country,” Manchin said when asked directly about running for president.
But he did appear to rule out another run for governor, saying, “No, I’ve done that.”
Manchin is up for re-election next year, and stressed he has not made a decision about his next steps. But Democrats are certainly hoping he’ll run for another term as he may be the only Democrat who can hold onto a state former President Donald Trump won by 39 points in 2020. Rep. Alex Mooney is already running on the Republican side, and term-limited GOP Gov. Jim Justice has also been weighing a run.
Manchin is one of three Democrats up for re-election in states Trump won, including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, who is running again, and Montana’s Jon Tester, who has yet to announce whether he’s running for re-election.
In other campaign news:
Gallego makes it official: Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego announced Monday morning that he’s running for Senate in Arizona, launching his campaign with a three-and-a-half-minute biographical video. Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who recently left the Democratic Party, has not yet said if she is running for re-election.
Virginia is for lovers, not Ford’s EV battery plant: Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s decision to oppose a battery factory in his state, and the 2,500 manufacturing jobs that would have come with it, is only adding to speculation he’s eyeing a presidential bid, per NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald.
Lose the battle, win the war: While a federal judge ruled that Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suspension of a state attorney violated free speech, the judge said he couldn’t reverse the decision.
JOMD won’t return to her old J-O-B: Bloomberg reports that former Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, the president’s current deputy chief of staff, won’t reprise her role on the president’s 2024 campaign.
The ballad of the swing seat Republicans: NBC News’ Sahil Kapur reports on how swing-seat Republicans in the House are trying to handle the political push-and-pull of the new GOP majority, where more conservative lawmakers have already extracted concessions from Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Trump talk: Ahead of his campaign event this weekend in South Carolina, the Washington Post reports that former President DOnald Trump is struggling to consolidate support in the Palmetto State, with two South Carolinians weighing their own runs for president. Trump, meanwhile, has also weighed into some party races, backing Matt DePerno, who has denied the 2020 election results, for Michigan GOP chairman. He also backed Washington GOP Chairman Caleb Heimlich’s re-election and North Carolina Republican Chairman Michael Whatley’s bid for RNC co-chair.
RNC race: Politico reports that Harmeet Dhillon, who is running to lead the Republican National Committee, is courting anti-Trump Republicans as she tries to flip votes from members who have already backed Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
No sunshine for Democrats in Florida: The Washington Post delves into Democrats’ despair in Florida, where they’re concerned the national party will write off the once-perennial battleground.
ICYMI: What else is happening in the world
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., is out of the hospital after falling from a ladder last week at his home in Sarasota.
Top leaders at the Pentagon are opposed to the U.S. sending a certain type of tank to Ukraine, despite their pressure on Germany to send other tanks to aid soldiers in the war.
Amid protests against his judicial reform plans, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his Interior and Health Minister over the weekend, at the behest of the nation’s Supreme Court.
A top border patrol official, Tony Barker, resigned in October after allegations came to light that he pressured women for sexual favors, NBC News’ Julia Ainsley reports.
